U.S. Pat. No. 1,834,150 Goelz discloses an electrical cable clasp connector of a general type which has been in use for many years for connecting the cables of DC electric traction motors and their associated means of power supply, such as generators.
At present, such connectors are commonly manufactured by machining their individual members from solid bars of free cutting brass or similar material. This process yields a relatively heavy connector of moderate electrical and thermal conductivity, in the production of which about 40% of the original material is machined away as scrap. Also the resulting part is generally characterized by uniform hardness, sufficient to resist excessive wear of the blade and slot portion of the connector due to engagement and disengagement of the mating members during use over a substantial number of years.
In currently used designs, the common method of attaching the electrical cable to the tubular barrel (or socket) portion of the connector is to insert an insulation-free end of the cable into the tubular barrel and solder the cable in place. Thus, current designs differ from that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,834,150 by the absence in the barrel portion of a provision for internally receiving any of the cable insulation. While press fitting of the cable into the barrel might be possible, the use of crimping to assist the electrical connection of the present connector design with a cable is essentially precluded by the hardness of the material and the thickness of the barrel. In view, primarily, of the cost of manufacture and installation of such connectors, there has existed a need for improved connectors capable of being made and installed at lower cost and having other improved features conducive to their use as traction motor cable connectors and the like.